A compelling, powerful novel of adventure and murder among Antarctic explorers.

'A powerful and subtle writer...a remarkable novel' Spectator

'Chilling and tragic' Ruth Rendell

In the waning years of the Edwardian era, a group of gentlemen wait out a raging blizzard in the perpetual darkness of the Antarctic winter, poised for a strike at the South Pole.

As the storm lifts, a new challenge faces Captain Sir Eugene Stewart - to discover which of his twenty-five carefully chosen men has become a murderer. The quest for adventure has become a quest for justice.

"His story is tightly reined: terse, ironic, reflective. His depiction of Edwardian innocence and stuffiness crashing against the Antarctic void is superb" - Washington Post

"The solution is as astonishing as it is inevitable, the denouement chilling and tragic" - Ruth Rendell

"The period gives this book its strength and character . . . altogether an admirable accomplishment" - New Yorker

"The absolute dark, absolute cold of the Antarctic is skilfully evoked" - Sunday Times

"A powerful and subtle writer . . . a remarkable novel" - Spectator

"I was riveted by this tale of a man fighting the elements and his fellow explorers" - Daily Telegraph

"Highly original and deeply moving" - Observer